Internet Radio

Former Judge to chair CoI into Camp Street unrest

Even as police still cordon off the area surrounding the Georgetown, Camp Street prison, the APNU+AFC administration has convened a commission of Inquiry into the circumstances that led to the prison unrest that saw 17 prisoners being

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on Friday afternoon revealed that the Commission will be led by former Justice James Patterson and will include Merle Mendonca of the Guyana Human Rights Association and former Director of Prisons Dale Erskine.

The Commission has been constituted to enquire into all the “causes, circumstances and conditions” surrounding the death of 17 prisoners from the Camp Street Prison.

The inquiry will also investigate the nature of all the injuries sustained by prisoners during the three day unrest.

The Commission will also determine whether the deaths of the 17 prisoners were as a result of “negligence, abandonment of duty, disregard for instructions or inaction of the prison officers.”

The Commission is set to commence its work on March 7, 2016, the first report is expected to be delivered by March 15.

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan revealed that 47 prisoners have since been transferred to the Timehri Prison until such time that repairs have been effected at the Prison.

He officially identified the 17 persons who were killed during the unrest.